Decolonization, Language, and Race in Applied Linguistics and Social Justice

Abstract While applied linguistics research can serve as an important site for understanding and contributing to efforts toward challenging historical and contemporary power structures, it is also crucial to interrogate how numerous normative concepts and logics within the field of applied linguistics both reflect and reenact dominant power structures. Centering colonialism and racism in our analysis, this commentary considers how applied linguistics often focuses on modest reforms supporting affirmation and inclusion of marginalized populations and practices, rather than on fundamental institutional changes required to eradicate the forces that produce marginalization. As applied linguists grapple with questions surrounding the extent to which their work contributes in substantive ways to social justice struggles, we are inspired by collaborations that challenge us to reconsider normative assumptions about both language and justice. These collaborations demand a comprehensive reckoning that frames social justice not as a normative reality that can be achieved through modest reforms to liberal governance, but rather as an existential horizon that necessitates a fundamental reimagination of communication’s role in narrating and creating decolonial worlds that sustain collective well-being.